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CATHOLIC 

MIND 


No.  13 

July  8,  !903 


The  Re&l 

St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  I. 


THE 
V -W  w. 


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SSCNGKK 
New  Yoxk 


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‘The  CATHOLIC  MIND 


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The  Real  St.  Francis  of  Assisi. 


Ib'Mioo. 

T'b  lo  I 


In  that  exquisite  garland  of  immortelles  known  as  the 
Fioretti  or  “Little  Flowers  of  St.  Francis/’  we  read  of 
a certain  friar  once  asking  St.  Francis : “Why  is  it  that 
all  the  world  comes  after  thee,  and  everybody  desires  to 
see  thee,  and  to  hear  thee,  and  to  obey  thee?  Thou  art 
not  a man  either  comely  of  person,  or  of  noble  birth,  or 
of  great  science;  whence  then  comes  it  that  all  the  world 
runs  after  thee?”  Not  a few  persons  may  have  been 
tempted  of  late  to  repeat  this  question  in  view  of  the 
homage  which  the  opening  century  is  offering  to  the  Little 
Poor  Man  of  Assisi.  No  one  who  follows  the  “signs  of 
the  times”  can  have  failed  to  note  the  many  manifesta- 
tions of  this  homage  whether  in  art  or  in  literature  or  in 
historical  criticism.  The  mere  fact  that  the  Povereilo  in 
his  tattered  habit  should  become  an  object  of  widespread 
interest  in  an  age  that  affects  to  smile  at  medisevalism 
seems  strange  enough.  But  that  the  present  revival  of 
interest  in  the  life  and  work  of  St.  Francis  should  re- 
ceive its  greatest  impetus  from  those  who  are  not  Cath- 
olics is  stranger  yet.  Of  all  the  saints,  the  Seraphic 
Patriarch  we  should  think  would  be  the  last  to  win  the 
affections  of  Protestants,  yet  he  is  apparently  the  one 
most  beloved. 

It  is  several  years  ago  now  that  a distinguished  Oxford 
professor  published  an  essay  which  first  set  our  separated 
brethren  talking  about  St.  Francis.  Ever  since  that  time 


i 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 


Protestant  interest  in  the  Saint  has  been  steadily  grow- 
ing in  widening  circles  and  the  public  never  seems  to 
grow  weary  of  hearing  more  about  him.  Indeed  the  past 
decade  has  been  remarkable  for  an  almost  continuous 
stream  of  literature  dealing  with  the  Saint’s  history.  New 
biographies  have  appeared,  including  one  in  the  “ epoch- 
makers”  series;  (i)  the  secular  magazines  have  treated 
at  length  of  his  “spirit” ; even  the  daily  papers  have 
turned  aside  from  politics  and  the  latest  scandal  to  invoke 
the  name  of  St.  Francis  as  though  it  still  had  a magic 
power  over  men’s  minds.  Moreover  Protestant  poets 
have  run  the  gamut  of  the  Saint’s  praises;  oratorios 
have  been  composed  in  his  honor  and  milliners  with 
cruel  irony  have  concocted  little  birds  for  the  trimming 
of  bonnets  which  they  call  oiseaux  a la  St.  Frangois.  Nor 
is  this  all.  The  life  of  our  Saint  has  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  Sunday-school  study  by  the  Congregational 
Union  of  England;  (2)  of  sermons  in  Protestant  cathe- 
drals; (3)  of  lectures  in  Rationalistic  Universities,  (4) 
and  of  “consecration”  by  the  Salvation  Army.  (5)  At 
the  moment  the  beginnings  of  Franciscanism  as  a “world 
movement”  are  being  diligently  studied  and  an  Inter- 

(1)  The  best  Catholic  one  is  undoubtedly  Abbe  Leon  Lemon- 
nier’s  admirable  “ History  ” (London  : Kegan  Paul,  1894),  but  the 
finally  acceptable  life  of  the  saint  has  still  to  be  published. 

(2)  In  each  of  the  three  grades  during  1897  appeared  a life  of 
"St.  Francis.” 

(3)  Canon  Knox  Little  delivered  a series  of  lectures  on  St. 
Francis  at  Worcester  Cathedral  in  the  Lent  of  1896. 

(4)  Professor  W.  Goetz,  of  the  University  of  Leipzig,  devoted 
the  entire  academic  year  1899-90  to  the  critical  analysis  of  the 
Speculum  Perfectioyiis  and  the  Legenda  Trium  Sociorum. 

(5)  One  of  the  most  popular  volumes  of  the  “Red  Hot  Li- 
brary” is  “Brother  Francis  or  Less  than  the  Least”  by  “Staff 
Captain”  Douglas. 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


3 


national  Society  under  Royal  patronage  has  been  estab- 
lished to  facilitate  this  study ; a new  race  of  pilgrims  is 
wending  its  way  towards  the  Umbrian  towns  where  every 
little  out-of-the-way  convent  is  being  ransacked  in  the 
quest  of  chronicles,  legends,  or  whatever  else  may  throw 
any  light,  however  dim,  upon  the  early  history  of  the 
Seraphic  Order.  (6)  As  a result  of  the  discoveries  al- 
ready made  among  the  “buried  cities”  of  Franciscan  lit- 
erature we  have  lately  been  put  in  possession  of  no 
small  number  of  original  documents,  reprints  and  new 
editions,  all  edited  with  scholarly  care  and  often  with 
exquisite  taste.  Not  less  noteworthy  is  the  eager  wel- 
come which  such  works  receive  from  the  reading  pub- 
lic and  the  sympathetic  treatment  of  them  at  the  hands 
of  the  reviewers. 

Truly,  in  the  face  of  all  these  facts,  one  is  tempted  to 
conclude  that  the  new  century  cannot  be  altogether  un- 
spiritual when  the  “message”  of  a stigmatized  mystic  is 
being  reverently  listened  to  even  in  the  halls  of  the  “high- 
er criticism.”  Indeed,  a perusal  of  some  recent  works 
might  almost  lead  one  to  believe  that  the  day  of  saints 
is  coming  at  last,  and  that  the  present  Franciscan  renais- 
sance is  but  the  presage  of  a golden  age  when  simple 
things  and  tenderness  and  faith  shall  be  the  vogue.  (7) 
But,  alas ! we  fear  that  not  a little  of  what  is  being 
written  nowadays  about  “sweet  St.  Francis”  must  be  set 
down  as  mere  sentiment.  We  have  in  mind  at  least  one 
recent  contribution  to  the  literature  of  Franciscanism 


(6)  Societa  Internationale  di  Studi  Francescani  inaugurated  at 
Assisi,  June,  1902,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Queen  Mother, 
Margaret  of  Savoy. 

(7)  Canon  Rawnsley’s  address  at  Assisi  last  summer  may  be 
cited  as  an  example. 


4 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


which  certainly  conies  under  this  head.  For  the  rest, 
even  in  those  quarters  where  the  appreciation  of  St. 
Francis  is  not  of  the  sentimental  order,  we  are  also 
tempted  to  fear  that  the  Saint  is  regarded  chiefly  as  a 
great  sociological  fact,  and  that  his  methods  are  being 
studied  as  a mere  academic  exercise.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
that  St.  Francis  should  be  seriously  studied  at  all  outside 
the  Church  at  a time  when  the  very  school-boys  are  read- 
ing Huxley  and  Spencer,  is  something  to  be  thankful 
for — even  though  the  motive  be  not  a religious  one.  Con- 
temporaneously with  all  this  Protestant  activity,  Cath- 
olic scholars  have  not  been  idle,  and  in  special  periodicals 
and  publications  have  contributed  not  a little  to  the  ex- 
tension of  the  Franciscan  research  movement.  (8) 

But  it  is  time  to  return  to  our  question : What  is  the 
cause  of  the  present  widespread  homage  to  St.  Francis? 

(8)  Some  of  the  most  energetic  workers  in  this  direction  are 
the  Friars  themselves.  Among  them  Father  Leonard  Lemmens, 
the  present  annalist  of  the  Friars  Minor,  holds  first  place  by 
reason  of  the  acumen  of  his  criticism  and  the  importance  of  his 
discoveries.  He  is  at  present  editing  the  "Documenta  Francis- 
cana,”  a collection  of  ancient  chronicles  of  the  Order.  Three 
volumes  of  this  work  have  already  appeared — “Scripta  Fratris 
Leonis,”  “Speculi  Redactio  la,”  and  “Extractiones  ex  Legenda 
Antiqua,”  besides  the  “Chronica  Beati-Bernardini,”  the  “Dialogus 
De  Vitis  Fratrum,”  and  the  “Excerpta  Celanensia.”  Father  Mar- 
cellinus  da  Civezza  and  Teofilo  Domenichelli,  both  well-known 
writers,  have  given  us  for  the  first  time  the  integral  text  of  the 
“Legend  of  the  Three  Companions.”  The  Fathers  at  Quarrachi 
have  published  the  two  “Legends  of  St.  Bonaventure.”  Father 
Edward  d’Alengon,  Archivist  of  the  Capuchins  in  Rome,  has  pub- 
lished a critical  edition  of  the  “Sacrum  Commercium  S.  Fran- 
cisci  cum  Domina  Paupertate,”  held  to  be  the  earliest  of  Francis- 
can documents,  and  he  promises  a similar  edition  of  the  “Two 
Legends,”  by  Celano.  Meanwhile,  Father  Joseph  Fratini,  O.M. 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


5 


It  is  of  course  far  too  wide  a question  to  allow  the  writer 
of  the  present  article  to  do  more  than  make  a few  sug- 
gestions. First  and  foremost  then  the  perennial  charm 
of  the  Saint’s  personality  must  ever  be  reckoned  with 
as  a remote  cause.  There  is  an  indescribable  attraction 
in  the  Saint  which  draws  and  holds  men  of  the  most 
different  habits  of  mind,  with  a sense  of  personal  sym- 
pathy. Perhaps  no  other  man  unless  it  be  St.  Paul  ever 
had  such  a wide-reaching  all-embracing  sympathy.  And 
it  may  have  been  wider  than  St.  Paul’s,  for  we  find  no 
evidence  in  the  great  apostle  for  a love  for  nature,  and 
for  animals.  This  exquisite  Franciscan  spirit,  as  it  is 
called,  which  is  the  very  perfume  of  religion — this  spirit 
at  once  so  humble,  so  tender,  so  devout,  so  akin  to  the 
“good  odor”  of  Christ,  passed  out  into  the  whole  world 
and  has  become  a permanent  source  of  inspiration.  A 
character  at  once  so  exalted  and  so  purified  as  St.  Fran- 

Conv.,  has  published  a concordance  of  the  “Two  Legends  of 
Celano,”  “The  Three  Companions,”  and  “St.  Bonaventure.”  Out- 
side the  Franciscan  family  Mgr.  Faloci  Pulignani,  of  Foligno, 
Editor  of  the  Miscellanea  Francescana,  and  Don  Minocchi,  of 
Florence,  the  Bollandist,  F.  van  Ortroy,  P.  Erhle,  S.J..  the  eru- 
dite critic  of  the  Mediaeval  Church,  P.  Mandonnet,  O.P.,  of  Frei- 
burg, Prof.  W.  Goetz,  of  Leipzig,  and  Karl  Muller,  have  become 
prominent  for  their  recent  contributions  to  the  study  of  early 
Franciscan  history.  Nor  have  the  English  writers  been  idle. 
Besides  the  work  of  Fathers  Cuthbert  and  Stanislaus,  O.S.F.C., 
the  “Sacrum  Commercium”  has  been  translated  by  Montgomery 
Carmichael  under  the  title  of  “My  Lady  Poverty”  (London,  Ten- 
nant & Ward).  The  “Speculum  Perfectionis”  has  been  translated 
successively  by  Dr.  Sebastian  Evans  (Boston,  L.  C.  Page,  1899), 
and  by  the  Countess  De  La  Warr  (London,  Burns  & Oates, 
1903),  while  “The  Legend  of  the  Three  Companions,”  translated 
by  Miss  E.  Gurney  Salter,  is  among  the  latest  additions  to  the 
Temple  Classics,  in  which  series  there  is  also  an  admirable  Eng- 
lish version  of  the  “Fioretti." 


6 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


cis  was  sure  to  keep  alive  an  ideal.  And  so  he  does. 
From  this  one  can  easily  understand  St.  Francis’  dom- 
inance among  a small  but  earnest  band  of  enthusiasts 
now  pointing  the  world  back  to  the  reign  of  the  spirit. 
It  was  this  same  gentle  idealism  of  St.  Francis  which 
inspired  the  art  of  the  Umbrian  people ; it  was  this  which 
was  translated  into  the  paintings  of  their  greatest  artists. 
No  school  of  painting  has  ever  been  penetrated  with  such 
pure  idealism  as  the  Umbrian,  and  the  inspiration  at  once 
religious  and  artistic  came  from  the  tomb  of  the  Povcr- 
ello  above  which  Giotto  had  painted  his  mystical  frescoes 
of  poverty,  chastity  and  obedience.  The  earnest  quasi- 
religious study  of  the  mediaeval  beginnings  of  Western 
art  has  therefore  rightly  been  set  down  (9)  as  another 
cause  for  some  of  the  latter-day  pilgrimages  to  Assisi. 
In  like  manner  the  scientific  treatment  of  the  romance 
literature  leads  naturally  to  St.  Francis  as  to  the  humble 
upper  waters  of  a mighty  stream — at  the  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth  century  is  St.  Francis,  at  the  end  is  Dante.  It 
was  Matthew  Arnold,  we  believe,  ( 10)  who  first  held  up 
the  Poor  Man  of  Assisi  as  a literary  type — a type  as  dis- 
tinct and  formal  as  the  author  of  the  “Divine  Comedy.” 
Prose,  he  says,  could  not  satisfy  the  Saint's  ardent  soul, 
and  so  he  made  poetry.  But  St.  Francis’  poetry  is  not 
merely  in  his  written  words,  though  they  are  very  beauti- 
ful ; it  is  in  his  life,  and  that  life  must  ever  appeal  to  the 
imagination  of  all  true  poets.  Thus,  we  have  Longfellow 


(9)  Catholic  University  Bulletin,  Washington,  D.  C..  April, 
1903. 

(10)  In  his  chapter  on  pagan  and  mediaeval  sentiment  where 
he  draws  a comparison  between  a hymn  of  Theocritus  and  the 
Canticum  Solis  of  S.  Francis. — Essays  on  Criticism , First  Series, 
Macmillan  & Co.,  1883. 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


7 


speaking  of  St.  Francis  as  his  '‘favorite  Saint,”  Tennyson 
sighing  for  the  Saint's  return  to  earth,  and  Ruskin  treas- 
uring up  a relic  of  the  Saint’s  habit.  Such  men,  however, 
in  their  expressions  of  affection,  remember  St.  Francis 
chiefly  as  the  one  who  "went  forth  to  preach  to  the  birds 
at  Bevagna,  who  tamed  the  fierce  wolf  of  Gubbio,  who 
sheltered  the  leveret  and  set  the  wild  doves  free,  who  felt 
the  welcome  of  the  minstrels  of  the  wood  at  La  Verna, 
who  bade  affectionate  farewell  to  his  brother  the  Falcon, 
and  who  sang  in  sweet  contest  with  the  nightingale  in  the 
ilex  grove  of  the  Carceri.” 

But  if  some  are  more  directly  moved  by  the  aesthetic 
aspect  of  the  Saint’s  life,  there  are  others  who  consider 
his  character  from  a more  serious  standpoint.  These 
latter  see  in  St.  Francis  a type  of  the  true  Christian  re- 
former whose  "social  idea”  might  with  some  modifica- 
tions be  applied  to  actual  conditions.  "Let  us  try,”  writes 
such  a one,  "to  discover  whether  the  Saint’s  ideas  have 
lost  their  virtue,  whether  those  principles  have  ceased  to 
be  true  and  living,  or  whether,  if  cast  into  well-prepared 
soil,  they  are  not  capable  of  bearing  fruit  still,  like  those 
grains  of  wheat,  which,  after  lying  for  long  centuries  be- 
side the  bodies  of  the  Pharaohs,  still  preserve  their  germi- 
nating powers  to-day.”  (n)  In  such  expressions  as 
these  we  are  said  to  hear  "the  farthest  shoreward  ring  of 
that  ripple  which  St.  Francis  made  when  he  dropped  into 
the  sea  of  men’s  affections  his  gauntlet  against  the  ava- 
rice and  self-interest  of  the  favored  classes  in  his  day.” 
Since  that  day  the  world  has  been  burned  in  many  fires 
and  in  many  agonies  has  faced  the  birth  of  new  truths. 
What  wonder,  then,  in  view  of  the  strong  new  walls  of 

(11)  “St.  Francis  and  the  Twentieth  Century.”  Contemporary 
Review,  December,  1902. 


8 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


division  rising  amid  our  changing  economic  condition,  if 
a world  overrun  with  materialism  and  more  deeply  de- 
ceived than  it  likes  to  admit,  should  hark  back  to  the  “so- 
cial idea”  of  the  man  who,  “when  European  society  was 
on  the  brink  of  complete  collapse,  stepped  in  and  saved 
it.”  (12)  When,  therefore,  we  consider  that  “Umbrian- 
ism,”  as  typified  by  St.  Francis,  changed  the  whole  aspect 
of  the  Social  Question,  that  it  diverted  the  course  of  art 
and  forced  poetry  to  take  new  directions  we  shall  have 
gone  far  on  the  road  to  understanding  the  influence  which 
the  Poverello  wields  over  the  cultured  and  thoughtful 
minds  of  our  day. 

But  may  we  not  also  see  in  the  present  neo-Protestant 
cultus  of  St.  Francis  a phase  of  that  “great  intellectual 
Catholic  Renaissance”  by  which  a non-Catholic  dramatist 
(13)  seeks  to  explain  the  recent  revival  of  the  miracle 
plays.  We  have,  it  seems,  “traveled  so  far  away  from 
the  spirit  of  the  mediaeval  period,  that  we  have  almost 
completed  the  circle.”  Unconsciously,  then,  we  are  mak- 
ing our  way  back  to  the  old  ideals,  or  as  this  writer  puts 
it,  “recovering  from  the  too  reactionary  spirit  of  the  Re- 
formation” and  re-awakening  as  it  were  to  the  “imagina- 
tive beauty  of  the  Catholic  presentment  of  Christianity.” 
Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that  the  frigid  if  not  bitter 
tone  which  was  formerly  a marked  feature  of  the  Protes- 
tant religious  literature  when  treating  of  the  Communion 
of  Saints  is  gradually  disappearing  under  the  modern 
aesthetic  movement.  At  least  a large  section  of  Protes- 


(12)  These  are  the  words  of  the  late  Protestant  Bishop  of 
London,  Dr.  Creighton,  who,  like  Canon  Knox  Little,  lectured 
on  St.  Francis.  See  the  English  Historical  Review,  Vol.  V, 
No.  20. 

(13)  Laurence  Housman  in  the  Critic,  March,  1903. 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


9 


tantism  is  no  longer  guilty  of  what  Ruskin  called  “the 
vulgar  and  insolent  Evangelical  notion  that  one  should 
not  care  for  the  saints/’  And  strange  as  it  may  seem  to 
those  within  the  fold  the  Saint,  who,  if  he  has  not  been 
a means  of  bringing  about  this  change,  has  certainly  the 
strongest  attraction  for  the  Protestant  mind  is  St.  Francis 
of  Assisi. 

Whatever  may  be  the  cause  of  the  present  neo-Protes- 
tant cultus  of  St.  Francis  its  effects  cannot  but  prove 
beneficial  to  all  who  study  the  Saint’s  life  in  a proper 
spirit.  That  some  Protestants  seek  to  do  so  is  clear  from 
such  books  as  that  of  Canon  Knox  Little.  (14)  Spite 
of  some  impatient  words  about  the  “claims  of  Rome,” 
etc.,  that  disfigure  its  pages.  Canon  Knox  Little’s  appre- 
ciation of  St.  Francis  is  an  interesting  evidence  of  how 
the  Saint’s  career  may  affect  those  who  really  differ  from 
the  creed  he  professed.  Very  beautiful  from  beginning 
to  end  is  the  interpretation  of  motives  and  character  pre- 
sented by  the  eminent  Anglican  divine  in  his  biography, 
which  is  the  more  valuable  since  he  tells  us  he  has  studied 
everything  on  the  subject  within  reach;  that  he  depends 
for  his  information  on  original  authorities,  and  that  he 
has  formed  his  judgment  independently  from  them.  His 
aim  in  writing  is  to  lead  others  “to  follow  under  wholly 
different  conditions  in  the  main  and  deepest  things,  the 
noble  example  of  a holy  life.”  And  if  those  who  read  in 
this  spirit  do  not  rise  from  a study  of  the  Saint’s  life  bet- 
tered and  strengthened  in  ideal  and  purpose  there  are  not 
many  appeals  that  would  have  power  to  reach  them. 
Furthermore,  the  study  of  early  Franciscan  history  serves 
to  bring  many  non-Catholics  within  a Catholic  atmos- 
phere of  thought.  By  studying  the  personality  of  a pre- 

(14)  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  New  York:  Thos.  Whittaker,  1897. 


IO 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


eminently  Catholic  saint  living  in  an  essentially  Catholic 
age,  they  come  to  have  a better  knowledge  of  Catholic 
life,  and  this  better  knowledge  must  draw  them  nearer 
the  Church.  And  here  it  is  interesting  to  recall  the  evo- 
lution in  the  non-Catholic  attitude  towards  St.  Francis. 
Strangely  enough  Mrs.  Oliphant  in  her  “Life”  of  the 
Poverello  denies  him  the  title  of  saint.  Not  so  Dr.  Jes- 
sop,  who,  in  his  “Coming  of  the  Friars,”  asks,  “why 
grudge  to  call  him  Saint  Francis?”  Canon  Knox  Little, 
disdaining  any  concession  to  middle-class  English  Protes- 
tantism, calls  him  saint  as  a matter  of  course.  Dr.  Ad- 
derlev  accepts  the  miracle  of  the  Stigmata  without  ques- 
tion. As  for  Canon  Rawnsley  he  almost  seems  to  accept 
everything,  including  even  the  Third  Order.  In  the  lat- 
ter's appreciation  of  St.  Francis,  non-Catholic  sympathy 
with  the  life  and  aims  of  the  Seraphic  Patriarch  reaches 
its  highest  level  up  to  date — unless  the  establishment  of  an 
order  of  Protestant  Franciscans  may  be  considered  a 
higher  tribute.  Spite  of  all  this,  it  may  be  as  the  pessi- 
mists say  that  the  sectarians  are  really  no  nearer  the 
Church  than  they  were  twenty-five  years  ago.  But  this 
much  is  at  least  certain  that  the  spirit  of  St.  Francis  has 
the  happy  effect  of  eliminating  acrimony  from  the  minds 
of  men,  and  thus  they  may  more  easily  discern  where 
truth  resides. 

In  so  far  then  as  closer  acquaintance  with  St.  Francis 
conduces  by  a way  altogether  uncontroversial  to  dispel 
prejudice,  we  hope  that  his  Protestant  admirers  will, 
mindful  of  Pope's  admonition,  drink  deeply  at  the  well 
of  earlv  Franciscan  literature ; they  will  find  it  a well  of 
doctrine  undefiled.  And  who  knows  but  that  some  at 
least,  may  in  the  end  find  a short  cut  to  Rome  over  the 
Umbrian  hills.  For  its  own  sake  also,  this  study  of  the 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


1 1 


Franciscan  classics  among  Protestants  is  to  be  welcomed 
and  encouraged,  seeing  that  the  literature  of  the  spirit 
hears  in  our  day  so  sorry  a proportion  to  that  of  the  flesh. 
But  withal,  while  we  admire  the  enthusiasm  shown  by 
non-Catholics  in  studying  the  life  of  Saint  Francis  and 
while  we  accept  their  good  work  in  making  it  better 
known  at  its  full  value,  it  is  none  the  less  proper  that  we 
enter  a protest  against  their  interpretation  of  St.  Francis 
being  taken  as  the  correct  one — the  more  so  as  their  work 
betrays  a tendency  to  eulogize  the  merely  external  beauty 
of  the  Saint’s  life  at  the  expense  of  those  graces  of  the 
spirit  so  peculiar  to  him.  It  is  not  that  we  wish  to  see  St. 
Francis  portrayed  as  though  he  went  through  life  wrap- 
ped in  one  unbroken  ecstasy,  seldom,  if  ever,  descend- 
ing to  the  level  of  our  ordinary  existence.  Such  hagi- 
ography is,  to  say  the  least,  somewhat  discouraging, 
since  it  places  the  saints  on  a pedestal  quite  above  the 
reach  of  human  endeavor ; it  is  moreover  most  misleading 
since,  after  all.  the  saints,  unlike  the  poets,  are  not  born 
but  made.  (15)  The  tendency  we  fear  sins  by  defect 
rather  than  by  excess.  The  danger  is  lest,  in  the  general 
Protestant  appreciation  of  the  Saint’s  moral  beauty,  his 
internal  motives  be  ignored,  belittled,  or  misconstrued. 
Of  course  we  cannot  expect  non-Catholics  to  fully  appre- 
ciate the  supernatural  aspect  of  the  Saint’s  life  and,  as  it 
is,  “many  who  are  charmed  with  the  legend  of  the  wolf 
of  Gubbio,  pass  over  the  mystery  of  the  Portiuncula  as 
unintelligible.”  But,  on  the  other  hand,  does  St.  Francis 
stand  for  nothing  more  than  universal  peace,  brother- 
hood, and  the  appreciation  of  the  lowly?  It  is  this  social 
side  of  his  teaching  that  is  being  made  much  of  by  non- 

(15)  See  ‘“The  Inner  Life  of  St.  Francis,”  by  Fr.  Stanislaus, 
O.S.F.C.  London  Catholic  Truth  Society,  1900. 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


I 2 


Catholics.  We  are  told  that  the  message  of  St.  Francis 
to  our  century  is  one  of  brotherhood  and  peace  amongst 
nations  and  classes.  (16)  This  is  true,  as  far  as  it  goes, 
but  the  Saint  has  a further  message.  He  has  a message 
to  all  and  every  age.  Nor  was  his  message  only  by  way 
of  sermons.  He  did  preach  or  rather,  he  talked  to  the 
people,  but  his  life  was  his  sermon  and  it  is  just  in  that 
side  of  his  life  which  non-Catholics  are  passing  over  in 
silence  that  we  should  seek  the  Saint’s  real  “message.” 
In  St.  Francis’  intense  belief  in  the  supernatural,  in  his 
never  questioning  loyalty  to  ecclesiastical  authority — is 
there  not  a lesson  for  our  own  doubting  and  restless  gen- 
eration? Yet  you  will  look  in  vain  among  most,  if  not 
all,  of  the  eulogies  of  St.  Francis  now  in  vogue  for  even 
any  allusion  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a Catholic.  Of  course 
it  could  hardly  be  claimed  that  he  was  a Protestant,  since 
there  were  no  Protestants  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but 
you  will  be  told  that  St.  Francis  “belongs  to  humanity 
and  not  to  the  Church.”  In  their  apparent  anxiety  to 
read  the  beginnings  of  the  Franciscan  movement  in  the 
light  of  their  own  predilections  some  non-Catholics  have 
sought  to  give  the  work  of  St.  Francis  a color  of  “unde- 
nominationalism,’'’  and  to  represent  the  drift  of  his  teach- 
ing as  one  in  which  the  value  of  orthodoxy  was  discount- 
ed to  make  room  for  a fuller  presentment  of  the  “Social 
Question.”  Hence  he  is  often  held  up  as  a sort  of  mediae- 
val humanitarian  who,  were  he  alive  to-day,  would  have 
pleaded  “for  thrift,  for  old  age  pensions  and  for  com- 
munal banks.”  (17)  To  borrow  the  phraseology  of  a 

(16)  This  was  the  burden  of  M.  Sabatier’s  address  at  London 
last  year.  It  is  reprinted  in  the  Contemporary  Review,  Decem- 
ber, 1902. 

(17)  This  is  what  Canon  Rawnsley  declared  in  his  Assisi  ad- 
dress already  mentioned. 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


J3 


well-known  writer,  (18)  it  is  not  just  to  St.  Francis  nor 
true  to  his  spirit  and  teaching  thus  to  tear  off  the  label 
and  to  rub  out  the  trade  mark,  and  then  to  say : “See  the 
new  remedy  we  have  discovered  for  all  the  ills  the  twenti- 
eth century  is  heir  to.”  “The  doctor  for  our  sickness  to- 
day,” writes  an'  Anglican  enthusiast,  “is  the  man  who 
brought  his  medicines  to  the  men  of  Assisi  in  the  thir- 
teenth century.”  Far  be  it  from  us  to  gainsay  Canon 
Rawnsley’s  assertion  that  the  modern  world  in  general, 
not  excepting  the  Anglican  church,  is  badly  in  need  of 
just  such  a course  of  treatment  as  St.  Francis  adminis- 
tered to  his  fellow-men  six  hundred  years  ago,  nor  shall 
we  find  fault,  no  matter  who  it  is,  that  makes  the  most 
of  the  remedies  from  the  pharmacy  of  the  Church  which 
Christ  has  established  for  the  healing  of  the  nations,  but 
— let  them  be  honest.  Let  them  admit  they  have  no 
remedy  of  their  own,  and  that  they  must  needs  have  re- 
course to  Rome.  As  it  is,  glancing  over  the  speeches  de- 
livered last  summer  at  Assisi  at  the  reunion  of  the  Inter- 
national Society  of  Franciscan  Studies,  one  cannot  but 
feel  that  its  promoters  were  plucking  a flower  not  of  their 
own  growing,  and  while  exploiting  the  beauties  of  this 
borrowed  blossom  taking  care  not  to  say  a word  as  to  the 
garden  which  produces  blossoms  of  such  wondrous  color 
and  fragrance.  And  yet  it  makes  all  the  difference  in 
the  world  in  what  garden  a flower  grows — the  more  so, 
since  some  flowers  do  not  grow  except  in  one  place.  Thus 
the  thornless  rose-bushes  at  Portiuncula,  with  their  blood- 
stained leaves,  cannot  be  transplanted.  Neither  can  St. 
Francis. 

(18)  Rev.  A.  P.  Doyle,  Catholic  World,  September,  1897,  to 
whose  excellent  article  on  St.  Francis  we  are  also  indebted  for 
several  other  references. 


14 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


But  to  return  to  the  Assisian  society  it  may  be  inter- 
esting, as  not  a little  has  been  heard  of  late  respecting 
this  organization,  to  note  that  its  object  as  set  forth  in 
the  prospectus  is  to  compile  a complete  catalogue  of  Fran- 
ciscan manuscripts  existing  in  Europe  and  with  the  aid 
of  writers  on  Franciscan  subjects  to  collect  materials  for 
a bibliographical  dictionary  for  the  guidance  of  students. 
It  is  proposed  to  include  in  this  catalogue:  ‘T  MSS. 
of  works  bearing  on  the  history  of  St.  Francis  and  the 
Franciscan  movement;  2 MSS.  containing  the  writings 
of  Franciscan  Friars  (the  majority  of  which  will  be  scho- 
lastic treatises)  ; 3 MSS.  transcribed  by  Franciscan 
Friars,  or  formerly  belonging  to  Franciscan  houses;  4 
service  books/’  The  catalogue  will  be  arranged  accord- 
ing to  libraries ; will  be  issued  in  parts  and  subsequently 
indexed.  Meanwhile,  members  are  being  enrolled  and  a 
bureau  has  been  established  for  correspondence  in  the 
principal  European  languages.  Among  the  most  en- 
thusiastic promoters  of  this  undertaking  have  been  several 
Anglican  clergymen,  under  whose  auspices  a branch  of 
the  society  was  established  last  winter  in  England.  In 
apparent  ignorance  of  these  facts  some  Catholic  papers 
have  been  lauding  the  society  as  if  it  were  as  orthodox 
an  institution  as  the  Third  Order,  and  not  a few  Catholics 
were  induced  to  join  it.  Doubtless,  like  the  editors,  they 
supposed  it  to  be  a Catholic  affair,  or  at  least  presumed 
the  spirit  of  purely  scientific  and  critical  study  to  animate 
its  founders.  The  mistake  is  natural  enough.  How, 
they  ask,  could  Protestants  admire  a saint  who  was  the 
very  negation  of  Protestantism  ? They  forget  that  Protes- 
tants can  admire  almost  anything  under  the  broad  blue 
sky  except  external  authority,  as  represented  by  the  Roman 
Pontiff.  Our  Protestant  friends  may  argue  that  to  love 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


1 5 


St.  Francis  does  not  imply  a belief  in  the  Church  whose 
most  loyal  son  he  was.  We  answer  that  a society  for 
Franciscan  studies  need  not  be  an  ascetic  assembly  or 
even  a religious  association,  much  less  an  organization 
for  non-Catholic  proselytism,  but  its  object  should  be 
to  study  St.  Francis  in  every  phase  of  his  career — not 
merely  as  a friend  of  nature,  as  a social  reformer,  and 
as  preacher  of  poverty,  but  also  as  the  friend  of  Gregory 
IX.,  as  the  support  of  the  Roman  church,  as  the  founder 
of  an  order  which  has  been  a nursery  for  the  supernatural 
virtues.  Since  it  became  clear  that  such  was  not  the  ob- 
ject of  the  Assisian  society,  but  that  its  aim  was  rather  to 
study  St.  Francis  in  part,  in  so  far,  to  wit, — as  he  is 
‘‘canonized  in  the  heart  of  humanity  and  not  by  the 
Church,”  the  Catholic  members  realizing  that  they  were 
not  in  their  Father’s  house,  and  fearing  that  they  might 
be  serving  in  the  enemy’s  camp  seem  to  have  nearly  all 
withdrawn. 

The  difficulties  not  to  say  dangers  of  that  pretended 
neutrality  which,  as  in  the  present  case,  is  kept  so  con- 
stantly before  the  eyes  of  Catholics  nowadays  are  clearly 
indicated  by  Mgr.  Faloci  Pulignani,  of  Foligno,  editor  of 
the  Francescana  Miscellanea,  in  a recent  letter  to  the 
president  of  the  society.  This  distinguished  prelate  is  so 
well  known  for  his  vast  erudition,  especially  in  all  that 
appertains  to  Franciscan  history,  that  the  promoters  of  the 
new  society  used  every  effort  to  secure  his  co-operation 
in  its  organization.  These  advances  having  failed,  the 
vice-president  wrote  a lengthy  letter  to  Mgr.  Faloci,  in 
which  he  laid  particular  stress  on  the  complete  neutrality 
of  the  new  society.  In  his  reply,  Mgr.  Faloci  places  the 
question  on  its  true  basis.  In  justifying  his  abstention, 
he  adduces  reasons  which  are  so  much  to  the  point  that 


i6 


THE  REAL  ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI. 


we  cannot  do  better  than  give  a synopsis  of  them.  (19) 
Prefacing  his  reply  with  the  remark  “that  it  is  not  pos- 
sible to  be  a Catholic  in  heart,  if  one  does  not  profess  to 
be  one,”  Mgr.  Faloci  says : “I  have  received  a circular 
from  the  president  of  the  committee,  in  which  we  read 
that  the  society  wishes  to  preserve  a strict  neutrality. 
This  seems  to  me  to  be  but  idle  talk,  for  it  is  impossible 
to  draw  a parallel  between  a society  whose  purpose  is  the 
study  of  St.  Francis,  and  a society  of  chemists,  an  acad- 
emy of  electricians  or  a congress  of  mechanics.  They 
must  remain  entirely  neutral,  because  chemistry,  elec- 
tricity or  mechanics  are  neither  Catholic  nor  heretical. 
But  a society  whose  object  is  the  study  of  St.  Francis 
must  be  Catholic  or  non-Catholic.  Neutrality  under  these 
circumstances  altogether  favors  non-Catholics ; and  never- 
theless should  we  or  our  society  out  of  regard  for  these 
gentlemen  stifle  and  lock  up  our  feelings  in  the  depths  of 
our  hearts,  while  they  make  such  ready  display  of  theirs? 
Let  us  study  St.  Francis,  let  us  be  critics,  pitiless  critics, 
indefatigable  seekers  after  truth ; but  both  as  individuals 
and  as  a society,  let  us  have  the  courage  to  call  ourselves 
Catholics,  and  let  us  bear  the  consequences.  We  are  not 
a religious  confession ; we  are  not  a religion ; we  Catholics 
are  the  religion ; consequently  for  us  neutrality  is  logically 
a mistake.  For  others,  all  religions  are  good ; they  must 
of  necessity  be  neutral.  For  11s  all  religions,  except  the 
Catholic,  are  false.  Therefore  we  cannot  be  neutral.” 

Precisely  because  M.  Sabatier  has  taken  such  a promi- 
nent part  in  the  International  Society  of  Franciscan  study, 
we  shall  treat  of  his  work  and  spirit  in  a separate  article. 

(19)  We  are  quoting  from  the  translation  of  Mgr.  Faloci’s  let- 
ter published  in  the  Franciscan  Monthly  of  London,  for  Decem- 
ber, 1902. 


THE  ALDINE  CHAPBOOKS 


Designed  and  illustrated 
by  Roberta  F.  C.  Waudby 


Washington  Irving’s  The  Country  Church 

Kenneth  Grahame’s  Fun  o’  the  Fair 

Charles  Lamb’s  Dream  Children  and  The 
Child  Angel 

Brother  Wolf,  from  The  Little  Flowers  of 
Saint  Francis 

Our  Lady’s  Tumbler,  A Twelfth- Century 
Legend 

Leigh  Hunt’s  The  Old  Lady  and  The 
Maid-Servant 


J.  M.  DENT  & SONS  LIMITED  : LONDON 
E.  P.  DUTTON  & GO.  INC.  : NEW  YORK 


Printed,  in  Great  Britain  at  the  Temple  Press,  Letchworth,  Herts  (Dj  297) 


THE  SERIES  OF 

THE  CATHOLIC  MIND 


No.  1. 

THUS  FAR  PUBLISHED  CONTAINS 

REFORM,  TRUE  AND  FALSE. 

By  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Paul  Wilhelm  Von  Keppler. 

No.  2. 

THE  LAWS  OF  PROSCRIPTION  IN  FRANCE. 

By  Ferdinand  Brunetiere,  Editor  of  Deux  Mondes. 

No.  3. 

IMPORTANT  PAPAL  DOCUMENTS. 

I.  Bull  of  His  Holiness  Leo  XIII,  on  the  Church  in  the 
Philippine  Islands. 

II.  Constitution  on  the  Institution  of  a Commission  for  Biblical 
Studies. 

III.  Encyclical  Letter  to  the  Bishops  of  Italy  on  Studies  in 

Ecclesiastical  Seminaries. 

IV.  Allocution  to  the  Cardinals,  December  23,  1902. 

No.  4. 

No.  5. 

THE  HOLY  SHROUD,  by  Joseph  Braun,  S.  J. 

JUBILEE  SERMON  ON  LEO  XIII,  at  the  New  York 
Cathedral,  March  3,  1903,  by  the  Rev.  T.  J.  Campbell,  S.J. 

No.  6. 

THE  CHRISTIANITY  OF  ADOLF  HARNACK. 

From  the  Civilta  Cattolica . 

No.  7. 

WHAT  THE  CHURCH  HAS  DONE  FOR  EDU- 
CATION. By  the  Rev.  John  A.  Conway,  S.J. 

No.  8. 

THE  BIBLE  AND  ASSYRIOLOGY. 

By  Albert  Condamin,  Etudes , March  20. 

No.  9. 

THE  ATTITUDE  OF  MODERN  PROTESTANTS 
TOWARDS  THE  VIRGINITY  OF  OUR 

BLESSED  LADY.  By  A.  J.  Maas,  S.J. 

Reprinted  from  the  American  Catholic  Quarterly  Review  for  April,  1 903. 

Nos.  10,  11.  GALILEO  GALILEI  LINCEO. 

10.  Reprinted  from  the  Catholic  World,  October,  1887. 

11,  Reprinted  from  the  Irish  Ecclesiastical  Record,  April,  1893. 

No.  12.  THE  RELIGIOUS  CONFLICT  IN  FRANCE. 

Reprinted  from  The  Messenger,  July,  1903. 


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